Scots Must Bring Boyd Back

[Rangers Football Club 0]

ABUSE of Kris is way over the top

 

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[Bluedell 5,627]

by Lindsay Herron

 

"AMID the mud-slinging and mayhem in the wake of George Burley's departure from the Scottish national team last week Kris Boyd was once again portrayed as some kind of treacherous villain.

 

Remarkably, Boyd has been getting it in the neck again from a variety of newspapermen, radio pundits and ex-players as the search continues for Burley's successor.

 

They seem to think that Boyd's request last year not be selected for the national team while Burley was in charge was an act of treason.

 

Indeed, many critics have even suggested that the actions of Kris were considerably worse than those of Boozegate duo, former captain Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor. Eh?

 

Make no mistake I feel the striker could have gone down another path to accentuate the point that he was wasting his time reporting for international duty in the ill-fated Burley era.

 

However, he was so angry at being so publicly snubbed by the manager in the World Cup qualifier with Norway at Hampden last season that he felt enough was enough.

 

If you look at the situation, Boyd played for 18 minutes for Burley against Croatia in a friendly in March 2008 and then got 10 minutes against Macedonia in Skopje in August last year as the World Cup qualifying campaign opened up with a 1-0 defeat.

 

In the previous 13 international matches under Alex McLeish and Walter Smith he scored seven goals. There is scarcely a Scottish striker in living memory who has a strike rate like that.

 

For whatever reason Burley did not fancy Boyd and, of course, he is perfectly entitled to his opinion.

 

However, he effectively sent the message to the Rangers star that he was fifth or even sixth choice at that Norway game in October last year.

 

He started the match with a strange set-up with included James McFadden, James Morrison and Shaun Maloney in advanced roles.

 

He then took off McFadden and Morrison and replaced them with Chris Iwelumo and Steven Fletcher. Given that Kenny Miller missed that game and probably would have played, it told Boyd all he needed to know.

 

We all know what happened next. Iwelumo was culpable for the worst miss seen at the national stadium since the old King died and Fletcher also had a decent chance in the game but failed to take it.

 

Managers stand or fall by their decisions and Burley has now fallen.

 

As I said earlier, I don't think Kris was right to very publicly announce he didn't want to play for Burley. There were cuter ways he could have handled the situation.

 

However, it is hardly the first time that a player has "retired" from international football so I don't really understand the vitriol aimed at Boyd now that it has been made clear that the new manager - whoever he may be - will be able to select whoever he likes.

 

The one thing he will get when he does select Boyd - and he surely will - is a better player than the one who left the international scene just over a year ago.

 

There is no doubt that Boyd's touch, movement and link-up play are all better than they used to be.

 

However, one thing has remained constant - goals.

 

He was top scorer in the SPL last season and he is heading in the same direction in this campaign with five strikes in his last four games.

 

If he scores on Saturday he will reach 150 SPL goals in 277 matches - 71 as substitute.

 

Given the paucity of talent available to any prospective Scotland manager, they simply cannot afford not to bring Kris Boyd back."

[alexscottislegend 2,325]

A good article. Boyd has certainly improved. However, I think some of the abuse is being generated because Kris refuses to say just simply that he will play for Scotland - giving the impression that he wants to wait and see who the new man is before making a commitment. This really is an unacceptable stance. While I understand his position over Burley, it is not for players to make pre-conditions.

[Super_Ally 0]

Not picking Boyd, and the McGregor, Ferguson and McCulloch issues worked out well for him. But at least he didn't let the Celtic:Rangers ratio get too high.